I'm the One You Left Behind
by J. Maria
Summary: Something's wrong with her sister, and Buffy knows just who to blame.  Part Seven of the 'Nine's First Fallen Companion' series.


Title: Im the One You Left Behind  
Author: Jmaria  
Rating: FR-13  
Disclaimer: Joss owns Buffyverse, Davies owns the newest bits (TW) of the Whoverse  
Spoilers: Post Chosen, set just before the start of Series one.  
Characters: Buffy Summers, cell phone, Ninth Doctor  
Summary: Somethings wrong with her sister, and Buffy knows just who to blame.  
Words: 750  
A/N: Set weirdly - Buffy calls post Doomsday, but the call gets picked up some time just after Dawn leaves the TARDIS and post _Left the Pieces_

**__**

I'm the One You Left Behind

Buffy Summers wanted to kill something. Very, very badly. As both the object of her worry and the object of her chosen-to-be-killed-pile were both not present, the horde of vampires in the nest on Beaconsfield street would have to do. After the last vamp was dust, and all of her junior slayers were settled back into the van she pulled her cell phone out and double checked it for any incoming calls. Nothing. But then, that wasn't shocking. Dawn had wanted nothing to do with her sister after the Battle of Canary Wharf.

Dawn had up and vanished on them six weeks ago. She was still in London, or at least Buffy hoped she still was. She'd ditched her car, laptop and cell phone. She'd erased her hard-drive on her laptop and had left a note at the Council's reception desk in London after closing out her Council accounts. Three lines on a piece of planner paper.

_I can't do this job anymore. I'm not cut out for it. Don't follow me_.

It was worse than when she'd run off with that idiotic demon...alien, whatever thing! This was horrible. How did she get to be the bad guy? What was there that Dawn couldn't share with her? Buffy had died for her! What had this Doctor done for her? Nothing but make her miserable and...

Buffy shook her head and grabbed the cell phone and punched in Dawn's old cell phone number. The one she'd claimed she'd lost somewhere in that stupid blue box of his. She heard the ring and felt her breath catch when she heard her sister's voicemail message.

_"Hey, it's Dawn. I'm busy traveling with my buds, but I'm sure I'll feel bad for missing you. If it's an emergency, leave it at the tone - or better yet, call Buffy. She's not the boss for nothing, you know?"_

The automated beep shocked Buffy and made her even angrier. She slapped her phone closed before opening it again and hitting redial. She closed her eyes as Dawn's bubbly message played over again, fighting back tears.

"You bastard," Buffy spat after the beep. "What did you do to her? I swear to god, if I could find you and that stupid blue box of yours I would rip it apart with my bare hands. She was only twenty! You dragged her off into alien trouble and made the entire universe aware of her! It's bad enough I've got the demon population to deal with, but you just had to add the rest of the unknown, unnatural universe on top of it?" A sob broke through her voice, making it harder for her to vent her anger, fear, and frustration out on that stupid Alien. "You broke her. You have to come back and make her my Dawnie again! You have to fix her, or find her because I can't - I can't deal with her leaving and not contacting me. It's killing me not knowing where she is."

And most of all, she was sick of being left behind wondering what was going on with her little sister.

"You did this, and you have to fix it. You have to fix her."

Buffy slapped the phone closed again before she started up her car. The night was still early, and there were a lot of vampires left to kill. And somewhere out in Time and Space, Dawn's misplaced cell phone rang in the TARDIS. The Doctor turned about, trying to find the thing. For a second he thought it was Rose's, but she always had hers on her. He frowned as he leaned down over the stool and found the mobile duct taped to the bottom of it. He hadn't known Dawn had even left it there when she'd gone back home two months ago.

When her sister Buffy's name popped up on the caller id, he only rolled his eyes and hit the silence button on the side. He made his way down the winding corridor to the wardrobe and found that tacky blue suit he'd never dream of wearing again - not while he had a healthy stock of jumpers and his leather. He waited for the beep of the voicemail alarm to go off and then muted the unit. He stuck the mobile in the breast pocket and left the room. He, Rose, and Jack were headed to Cardiff to recharge the TARDIS. So many things to get done before they went off again.


End file.
